Where romance never ends and happiness abounds

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

Catalia “Cat” Fisa lives disguised as a soothsayer in a traveling circus. She is perfectly content avoiding the danger and destiny the Gods-and her homicidal mother-have saddled her with. That is, until Griffin, an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south, fixes her with his steely gaze and upsets her illusion of safety forever.

Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker, the woman who divines the truth through lies. He wants her as a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm-until he realizes he wants her for much more than her magic. Cat fights him at every turn, but Griffin’s fairness, loyalty, and smoldering advances make him increasingly hard to resist and leave her wondering if life really does have to be short, and lived alone.

So I heard the Washington Post did this amazing review of this book and it sparked my interest. Yes, my blog does a lot of romance but romance books can be done so many ways. I think that is one my favorite things about the genre as a whole. You can have fantasy, smut, mystery, light-hearted, shifters, etc. Just anything.

But this book. Wow. It blew me away. I want to just hug Amanda Bouchet forever for this book. I keep trying to find new words to express my adoration (no lie, I busted out the thesaurus), but nothing is adequate. This book is just…all the feels. All the everythings.

We first meet Cat at a circus, where is she hiding but she’s already caught the eye of Beta Sinta, who is a warlord. Cat is on the run from Andromeda, and throughout the book, we see different variations of the Gods, including Zeus and Poseidon.

The attraction between Cat and Beta Sinta (who is also known as Griffin; Beta Sinta is more of his title) is one of the more authentic connections I’ve seen. Which seems sort of ironic for a book set in a fantasy world. But they have this incredible connection to each other. Griffin does not hide his affections for Cat at all, while she fights it. Then she meets his family and its unlike anything that she has ever experienced. Cat grew up in an environment where she was treated poorly and hurt purposely. Initially, its really hard for her to conceptualize a family that gets along and doesn’t treat each other poorly.

Griffin wants to lead with Cat, but never sees herself as a leader. But when the time calls for it, Cat naturally leads. I felt like I aligned with Cat, and to be entirely honest, I think a lot of women would align with Cat. When something needs to get done, she steps in and makes it happen. She isn’t waiting around for someone else to decide or ponder on what the next step. She follows her instincts.

I don’t want to give away anymore because then I’d start getting into some spoilers and this book was one that I loved so dearly and I would hate to ruin it for anyone else.

This book was just everything. The saddest thing about it was that it ended and that the next book isn’t out until January. Absolutely fantastic. You must read this because its one of those books that you sit down with and the next thing you know, the day has passed and you’ve spent your day in an entirely different world.